lost and found
by eponnia
Summary: Pre-Canon. "Well, come along then. We can't have a frozen wolfdog on the streets of the good town of Nome, now can we?" Or, how Boris found Balto. [Filmverse one-shot]


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: The first** _ **Balto**_ **movie, however enjoyable, is so historically inaccurate that using Togo as Balto's father's name (inspired by** _ **Balto: Togo and Aniu's Journey**_ **by Pikachufan260) honestly doesn't even bother me at this point.**

* * *

"Come along," his mother says, and a young Balto approaches the narrow mouth of the den.

The grass is green and the air is warm, and so he leaves the safety of the den in the side of the hill, his siblings a few steps behind. They tumble after their mother, striking in her pale fur against the colorful tundra, and head west. He does not know why his mother keeps such a brisk pace; his focus is on barking at his siblings as wolves howl in the distance. Balto's mother pauses to test the air, nose twitching and ears pricking, and then herds her children forward.

As they walk, the only information he can glean from his mother is that they are meeting someone. She refuses to reveal anything else, so he clumsily pounces at irritated marmots and insolent beetles until she calls him back to the group. As night falls, he can see lights in the distance, but they are different than the stars, and there are strange shapes blocking out the sky. His mother informs him that it is a town ahead, but Balto is more interested in the green and blue ribbons of light in the dark sky than to care about this Nome or pay attention to his mother howling as if calling out to another wolf.

There is an answering bark.

Balto looks away from the green and blue lights to see a shape moving in the distance. As the larger animal approaches, he can see it looks somewhat like a wolf, but smells and moves differently; yet at the same time, it has the same markings and coloring of Balto himself. Yet his mother runs forward to greet this strange wolf-like creature, both their tails waving.

Suddenly there is a deafening sound, and as Balto yelps, he hears the voices of men not unlike the trappers his mother had hidden him. In the darkness, he sees blood staining his mother's fur, and the not-wolf lunges at one of the men. The terrifying sound rings out again, and the not-wolf falls and does not rise. In the chaos, Balto hears his mother tell him to run, and he obeys. As his siblings bolt in every direction, he sees his mother racing away from the town, the blood even darker on her fur as the men follow her.

He runs until he is sure his heart will burst, terror giving him energy as he sprints into the streets of the town. The tall shapes with their gaping, golden eyes and mouths and ears seem to close in around him, and he looks wildly for a wolf to help him. But only frightening not-wolves bark from inside the large shapes, and when he hears men's voices once more, he pushes himself on, even though his lungs burn. He finds a dark place between the shapes and cowers, whimpering and shaking and wanting more than anything to be back in the den with his siblings and his mother and away from this Nome–

"Hello?" a voice says, and Balto backs up against something that falls and crashes, and he yelps.

"There's no need for such a racket," the voice says, and a snow goose with black-tipped wings and an orange beak emerges from atop one of the shapes and flies down to land before Balto. "That trashcan never did anything to you, now did it?"

Balto has no idea what the goose is talking about, and is only concerned about if the bird will attack him. Eagles and falcons are usually the only ones who would truly hurt someone, but in this Nome, perhaps geese are more vicious than they are on the tundra.

"What?" The goose bends his wings and puts them on his sides with a huff. "I won't bite. And you're a dog. You can bite worse than me, anyway. I don't even have teeth–" The bird squints at him. "You're not a dog, are you?"

Balto doesn't move.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the goose says quietly, but Balto only blinks at him. "They call me Boris," the bird offers. "What's your name, kid?"

"Balto," he finally mumbles.

"Are you lost?"

Balto can't help but nod. Even though it is late summer, the night is getting colder by the minute, and he is starting to shiver almost violently.

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't know," he admits. "My mother told me to run, and…" Balto feels a strange urge to bring up the not-wolf who looked like him, but doesn't continue.

Boris' eyes widen. "Is your mother the wolf that the humans were shouting about?" Balto doesn't respond, but the bird quiets. "What about your father?"

"I don't know" is all Balto can say, because it is true.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

Balto shakes his head.

The goose heaves a sigh. "Well, come along then. We can't have a frozen wolfdog on the streets of the good town of Nome, now can we?"

Balto doesn't know what a wolfdog is, but when Boris turns and waddles away, he follows.

He is half asleep on his paws when they reach an odd wooden structure frozen into the ice. When Balto hesitates before it, Boris only says, "You will be safe here on the ship. No one will find you here." The goose finds him something Boris calls a blanket, yet as the canine huddles down, he looks up the green and blue lights once more.

"Like the aurora borealis, kid?" Boris asks, and a confused Balto nods. The goose watches him for a long moment, but when he speaks, it is more to himself than Balto. "You do look an awful lot like Togo."

"Who's Togo?" Balto asks, but Boris doesn't immediately reply as the men's voices echo across the tundra.

"Get some sleep, kiddo," the goose says, heading to look out across the ice. and when the voices fade away, Balto tries to obey Boris. But the shimmering green and blue lights are too tempting, and the young wolfdog stares up at them until his eyes fall closed of their own accord.

He does not see the figure, fur only a shade lighter than the snow with blood on her shoulder, watch him from the darkness before turning away and disappearing into the night.


End file.
